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Annotated Table of ContentsHere's a brief overview of Performance Talk, chapter by chpter. Introduction: a Word from the AuthorAuthor Wally Bock tells you how he got on the trail to writing Performance Talk because he couldn't find a book to help him when he was a new young manager. He also tells you what he's learned after twenty years of doing leadership training, and lets you know what to expect from the book. Read the Introduction.Karen's ProblemWe meet Karen, her mentor, Jim and the problems Karen is having with her subordinate Ted, and with her boss, Ray. Jim shares some advice, then invites Karen to come with him to a meeting of the supervisor's roundtable he attends. Read Karen's ProblemLearning about Supervisory Leadership from OthersOn the way to the meeting, Jim explains to Karen how you can improve your own performance as a boss by learning from other bosses since everyone has similar problems with subordinates. He and Karen discuss how they didn't get much helpful from their company program for new managers.Some Basic PrinciplesKaren meets Art who coordinates the roundtable meeting. Art takes a few moments to review some key one-on-one principles with Karen. That's when she learns about one simple and easy behavior that great supervisors do and that makes them more effective.Bosses in Other Industries can Help YouKaren meets the other members of the roundtable. Jack is a sales manager. Diane is a manager in a retail store. Consuelo (Connie) manages shift in a call center. Don is a factory manager. Craig supervises support techs.Social StylesEvery roundtable meeting has a short educational program by one of the members. Tonight, Don presents a program on social styles. Karen learns some of the ins and outs of tailoring her communication and management to treat her subordinates in a way that they're comfortable being treated.Analyzing the ProblemThe roundtable members often discuss issues they have as bosses at work. Tonight they discuss Karen's problems with Ted. Karen learns how her style could be in conflict with Ted's and how she could change her behavior to be more effective. Then, the group walks Karen though the basics of analyzing performance problems.Supervisory Interview BasicsA supervisory interview is a discussion with someone who works for you where you have an objective of changing his or her performance. The morning after the meeting, Karen gets together with Jim and he reviews the basics of supervisory interviews and how to set objectives for them. Karen learns a simple, but often hart-to-remember-to-do process that will dramatically improve her odds of getting a good outcome when she meets with Ted.Trying it OutAfter getting additional advice from other members of the roundtable, Karen meets with Ted the next morning. Karen uses the techniques she's learned and discovers that Ted's problem stems from his experience with Karen's predecessor. She also discovers that Ted has very high opinion of Ray, who's now Karen's boss and whom she has problems with.Reviewing Your Performance and Planning for Different SituationsKaren and Jim meet to critique her supervisory interview with Ted. They agree that Karen was lucky to have had time to prepare and lucky because Ted is basically a competent and committed worker who wasn't understanding what Karen wanted from him. Jim introduces Karen to different kinds of supervisory interviews for different situations and encourages her to critique her own supervisory performance.Learning More about Your PeopleKaren meets with Connie to find out how to learn about the people who work for her, going beyond the social styles tool. Karen learns that building on her strengths, while making her weaknesses irrelevant is a good success strategy and how developing standard procedures can help you improve your performance in weak ares.ConsequencesKaren is more comfortable at the next meeting of the roundtable. The group begins by reviewing the five key items in a supervisory interview objective. The educational session is about consequences. Karen learns about how she can use positive and negative consequences differently to influence the behavior of folks who work for her and about the two jobs that every boss has.Whose Control is it Anyway?As part of the meeting, the roundtable group helps Craig analyze a problem with one of his subordinates. Karen learns about the four different styles of supervisory control and how subordinates move along a continuum of control as they either grow and develop or as their sub-standard performance is documented and they head toward firing.There's Always More to LearnArt tells Karen that she has been invited to be an official member of the roundtable. Karen accepts. Then Art reviews the many areas in which bosses should be developing their skills. He suggests she meet with Jack, Diane, and Craig to expand her learning even farther.You Can't Win Them All, but You can Document ThemDiane tells Karen about an incident early in her career where she didn't take corrective action early enough or strongly enough. Karen hears about the importance of doing the things that are part of the bosses job, even if they're uncomfortable. She also learns why good documentation is important and how to do it.If It Feels Good, It Might Not BeKaren meets with Jack and he tells her about an incident in his career when he learned the importance of moving beyond his natural strengths. Jack learned to tie systematic planning to his natural persuasive skills and turn a performer with star potential into true star.Even Bad Examples can be Good for YouCraig's office reflects his priorities. On Karen's visit there Craig tells her the story of two of his first bosses, one excellent and one ineffective, and how he learned from both of them. Karen also learns about how previous bosses built up expectations and trust, or lack of it. She hears again how easy it is to destroy the trust it took years to build.Supervisory Leadership TipsKaren is officially welcomed to the roundtable. Every member offers her a brief suggestion about what she needs to do in order to be effective. Here's a brief version of the list.
Self-DevelopmentKaren has a six month performance review with her boss, Ray. She discovers some surprising things, like how much Ray knows about what goes on in the unit, and how others see him. He and Karen review her performance so far and hammer out a plan for her further development.Reminders and ResourcesThe chapters above, the story chapters, take up about two thirds of the book. Each chapter in the book has a companion Resources and Reminders chapter. You can see the "Resources" for each chapter on this site, because we keep the most updated resource list here on the web. The Reminders, both lists and charts are in the book.
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